On this occasion a detailed discussion of the painting’s provenance and iconography was published; see Volker Manuth and Marieke de Winkel, Rembrandt’s “Minerva in Her Study” of 1635: The Splendor and Wisdom of a Goddess (New York, 2002).

For the documents he signed as a witness in Dordrecht in December 1635, see Albert Blankert, Ferdinand Bol: Rembrandt’s Pupil (Doornspijk, 1982), 17, 71. As has been remarked in Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 3, 1635–1642, ed. Josua Bruyn et al. (Dordrecht, Boston, and London, 1989), 14, the relatively clumsy execution of the drawn copy of the Minerva is “just as one might expect from a newcomer” such as Bol.

According to a note in Rembrandt’s handwriting on the back of one of his drawings in the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin (Benesch 448) of around 1636–38. For the drawing see also Holm Bevers, Rembrandt: Die Zeichnungen im Berliner Kupferstichkabinett—Kritischer Katalog (Ostfildern, 2006), no. 18 ill. For a discussion of the document see Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 2, 1631–1634, ed. Josua Bruyn et al. (Dordrecht, Boston, and Lancaster, 1986), A 83 (the London Flora).

See the essay on Rembrandt’s signatures of the period in Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 3, 1635–1642, ed. Josua Bruyn et al. (Dordrecht, Boston, and London, 1989), 51–56, esp. 52. Compare nos. A 113 and A 120.

For a discussion of these effects in the three-quarter-length figures, see Josua Bruyn and Ernst van de Wetering in Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 3, 1635–1642, ed. Josua Bruyn et al. (Dordrecht, Boston, and London, 1989), 8–11.

According to the authors of the Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 2, 1631–1634, ed. Josua Bruyn et al. (Dordrecht, Boston, and Lancaster, 1986), A 70, 330–31.

For the general iconography of Minerva (Pallas Athena), see Stefan Grohé, “Rembrandt and Classical Mythology,” in Greek Gods and Heroes in the Age of Rubens and Rembrandt, ed. Peter Schoon and Sander Paarlberg (Exh. cat. Athens, National Gallery/Alexandros Soutzos Museum; Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum) (Dordrecht, 2000), 87–105, no. 61.

Here the painting is attributed to Jan Lievens. In this inventory, however, works by Rembrandt and Lievens are often confused. For a discussion see Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 1, 1625–1631, ed. Josua Bruyn et al. (The Hague, Boston, and London, 1982), A 38, 362.

Extract from the Inventory of His Excellency the Prince of Orange at the stadholder’s quarters and the house Het Noordeynde, The Hague, ARA. Nass. Dom. Hingman, 2e supplement, no. 96 (16 August 1632), 51, in Walter L. Strauss and Marjon van der Meulen, The Rembrandt Documents (New York, 1979), 87, Doc. 1632/3.

Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 1, 1625–1631, ed. Josua Bruyn et al. (The Hague, Boston, and London, 1982), C 9. The painting is dated by the authors of the Corpus to “in or soon after 1631.”

For a more elaborate discussion of the iconography of the victorious, peaceful Minerva, see Volker Manuth and Marieke de Winkel, Rembrandt’s Minerva in Her Studyof 1635: The Splendor and Wisdom of A Goddess (New York, 2002), 10–14.

Volker Manuth and Marieke de Winkel, Rembrandt’s “Minerva in Her Study”of 1635: The Splendor and Wisdom of a Goddess (New York, 2002), 14.

On possible patrons or buyers of the Minerva, see Volker Manuth and Marieke de Winkel, Rembrandt’s “Minerva in Her Study”of 1635: The Splendor and Wisdom of a Goddess (New York, 2002), 14–16.

The album amicorum, entitled “Pandora” by Jan Six, is still in the possession of his descendants in Amsterdam; see Peter Schatborn in Rembrandt: The Master and His Workshop, Drawings and Etchings, ed. Holm Bevers, Peter Schatborn, and Barbara Welzel (Exh. cat. Berlin, Altes Museum; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum; London, National Gallery [etchings only]), (New Haven and London, 1991), 109, no. 31(B).

Approximately 13 cm up from the lower edge, 42 cm apart.

According to the RR-107 research memo provided by Sara Smith, collections manager. It is possible the Thread Count Automation Project (TCAP) codirectors, C. Richard Johnson Jr. (Cornell University) and Don H. Johnson (Rice University) could determine weave matches that link the supports of the three paintings.